National coal resource investigations of the United States Geological Survey

The objective of this report is to provide a record of some of the goals and accomplishments of the coal resource investigations of the U. S. Geological Survey for 1977. Successful completion of these goals will aid the Nation in the years ahead because proper usage of coal resource data may lessen economic displacements resulting from the energy shortage.

This report is concerned only with one mineral fuel -- coal -- and only with coal resource investigations in the Geologic Division of the U. S. Geological Survey. Other divisions involved with coal or coal-related work are the Conservation, Water Resources, and Topographic Divisions. It is one of a series of reports on the energy resource studies conducted by the Geological Survey that provide a public record of the objectives, activities, and accomplishments of these programs. Similar reports have been prepared on oil and gas, oil shale, uranium, thorium, and energy-related industrial minerals.

This report includes descriptions of the program, each sub-element of the program, individual projects, and a selected list of program publications from 1970-76. It also describes how the program is responsive to Presidential pronouncements and Congressional mandates. The program is cooperative with several Federal bureaus, many state agencies, universities, and industry. This coordination assures that the program supplements the work of these interested groups and is not duplicative.

A scientific program such as the coal resource investigations is difficult for the non-involved person to understand solely from the existing reports on various studies made in the program. This report provides an explanation that the scientist, decision maker, personnel of other government agencies, and the layman can use to relate various activities and to gain a better understanding of the relation of coal to the Nation's requirements for energy and of the importance of a carefully planned program on this energy resource.